Holder for nursing bottle



E. s. NICHOLAS HOLDER FOR NURSING BOTTLE Filed July 1, 1954 April 16, 1957 HOLDER FOR NURSING BOTTLE Edward S. Nicholas, St. Albans, N. Y.

Application July 1, 1954, Serial No. 440,765 3 Claims. (Cl. 294-33 This invention relates to a holder for nursing bottles. It is, of course, well known that the hands of babies of nursing age are too small to firmly grip the conventional nursing bottle and it is some time before their hands become developed sutficiently to grip and hold the bottle firmly. This invention provides a nursing bottle holder which is readily attached to and detached from the nursing bottle and when placed on the bottle provides handles which may be conveniently grasped and held by the small hands of a baby of nursing age.

According to the invention, the nursing bottle holder comprises a band made of flexible and elastic material which provides a sleeve extendingv around and gripping the peripheral surface of the body of the bottle, the sleeve being interrupted to provide ends for the band, the ends being provided with a separable fastening means, and a pair of oppositely disposed handles having means for securing them to the sleeve band. The separable fastener provides means whereby the ends of the band may be fastened together so that the band forming the sleeve will grip the bottle when the sleeve is placed on the bottle, and it also provides a convenient means for easily removing the holder from the bottle. The handles are so mounted as to provide for adjustment of the posi tion of the handles along the band so that the position of the handles when the holder is placed on the bottle may be such as to provide a proper balance when the baby holds the nursing bottle by gripping the handholds of the handles with his small hands.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention will be pointed out in the annexed claims, the invention itself as to its objects and advantages and the manner in which it may be carried out may be better understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a conventional nursing bottle (shown in dash lines) with the holder placed on and gripping the bottle;

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the bottle holder to larger scale, showing the ends of the band fastened together to form the elastic sleeve and showing the sleeve when it is not stretched on the bottle;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the ends of the band unfastened and the band in flat position, showing the side which grips the bottle;

Fig. 4 is a view on line 4-4 of Fig. 1 to illustrate the manner of mounting the handles on the band;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the handle and the manner of mounting it on the elastic band; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 5 from another angle.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate similar parts throughout the several views, 10 represents a conventional nursing bottle having a cylindrical wall 11 providing a body portion 12 of circular cross-section; the bottle being provided with a re- States Patent movable nipple 13. As shown, the bottle holder comprises a band 14 which is made of woven elastic material. However, the band may be made of any suitable flexible elastic material such as rubber or other elastic and stretchable material. That is, the material of which the band is made is stretchable lengthwise of the band 14. The ends of the band are provided with binding members iii and 16, the end member 16 having secured thereto the male part 17 of a separable fastener (designated generally by reference numeral 18) and the opposite end member 15 having secured thereto the female part 19 of the separable fastener 18. As shown, the separable fastener 18 is of the snap-on type, but it will be understood that any form of separable fastener adapted for fastening together the ends 15 and 16 of the band 14 may be used.

A pair of handles 26 and 21 are mounted on the band l4 and are so contrived that the handles may, if desired, be moved along the band. As shown, the handles are made of molded plastic. A typical handle 20 comprises a bowed or generally U-shaped handhold member 22 of circular cross-section and of such size that it may be gripped by the hand of a baby, and a tie-bar 23 secured at its ends 24 and 25 to the ends of the handheld part 22. The tie-bar 23 is fiat and of suflicient width to accommodate a pair of parallel slots 26 and 27, each of which has a width to permit the band 14 to pass through. When so slotted the portion 23 lying between the slots 26 and 25? provides a means for threading the band through the slots to form a loop 29 around the central bar 28, which bar forms, in effect, a cinch bar. Thus when the elastic band 14 is threaded on the tie-piece 23 as shown in Figs. 4, 5, 6, the loop 29 is cinched and firmly held in place on the band. Both handles 2% and 21 are mounted in the same way on the band 14 and when adjusted in proper position will form a pair of oppositely disposed handles when the band is placed on the bottle as shown in Fig. l. Inasmuch as the loops 29 are cinched by the tie-piece 23, the handles will remain in that position on the bottle since the length of the elastic band is such that when it is extended around the bottle and its ends fastened togeher as shown in Fig. 1, the sleeve provided by the elastic band will grip the peripheral surface of the bottle and maintain the handles firmly in properly adjusted position. Also, it may be noted that the bottle holder may be adjusted lengthwise on the bottle so that proper balance is provided since the sleeve, by exerting sufficient force, may be moved on the body of the bottle.

Although the handles 29 and 21, as shown, are formed of rigid molded plastic in one piece, it will be understood that the handheld part 22 and the tie-piece 23 may be made separately and secured together with screws or other suitable means and other suitable rigid material may be used, if desired, to form the handles.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the invention provides a nursing bottle holder that is adapted for use with a wide range of sizes of bottles and for use with bottles having a difierent shape in cross-sectionz circular, rectangular, triangular, square, etc., and by reason of the adjustability of the handles along the band the handles may be placed in such a position that the bottle may be given a proper balance, it being observed also that the holder may be moved longitudinally along the bottle. The holder is readily and easily put on and taken oif the bottle; is easily kept clean and sanitary, and it does not interfere in any way with handling the bottle for washing or warming its contents because of the ease with which it can be placed on or removed from the bottle.

The terms and expressions which have been employed herein are used as terms of description and not of limits.

3 tidnjand thfe is 'no intention in the use of such terms "ana'expre'ssiens "of excluding "any e uivalent of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognized that various modifications are possible within th e'js'cop'e of invention "claimed.

1. A bottle holder for 'a nursing bottle which comprise a band ofelastic material, said band being interrupte'd to provide two ends, separable fastener means "secured to the ends of said band, said band, when the ends ofjsaid band'are fastened together by said fastening means, forming a sleeve into which the body of a nursin tiotne may be 'pla'ced,said band being of such length that "s'aidfsleeve firmly but yieldably grips the peripheral surface of the bottle, a pair of'oppositely' disposed handlesmount'ed on 's'a'id'ban'd, each of said handles having a 'U-shaped handhold portion which may be grasped by the hand of a baby and a tie-piece secured at its opposite ends 'to the opposite ends of said handhold portion, said tie-piece having a pair of longitudinal slots forming a cinch-bartlierebetween, said band extending through said slots and forming a loop cinched by said tie-piece said handles being adjustable to any desired position along said band by moving said band through said slots to cinch said band at the desired position.

2. A bottle holder for a nursing bottle which comprises a band of elastic material, said band being interrupt'ed to provide two ends, a separable snap fastener for securing the ends of said band together, the male part of said snap fastener being secured to one of said ends and the female part to the other of said ends, said band, when the ends of said band are fastened together by means of said snap fastener, forming a sleeve into which the body of a nursing bottle may be placed, said band being of such length that said sleeve firmly but yieldably grips the peripheral surface of the bottle, a pair of oppositely disposed handles mounted on said band and adjustably movable along said band, each of said handles having a U-shaped portion providing a handhold which may be grasped by the hand of a baby and a tie-piece secured at its opposite ends to the opposite ends of said U-shaped handhold portion, said tie-piece having a pair of longitudinal slots forming a cinch-bar therebetween, said band extending through the slots of each of said tie-pieces, said band forming a loop at each tie-piece which "is 'cinched by its cinch-bar.

3. A bottle holder for a nursing bottle which comprises a wide band of fiat elastic material connected at its ends to provide an elastic sleeve fitting snugly around the entire periphery of and yieldingly gripping the surface of the body of the bottle, a pair of oppositely disposed handles made of rigid material and mounted on said band for adjustable movement along said band, each of said handles having "a "U-sh'aped rigid handhold portion which may be grasped and held by the hand of a nursing baby and a flat tie-piece made of similar material as saidU-shapedportion,said tie-piece being longer than the width of saidband and'connected at its opposite ends to the opposite ends of said handhold portion, said tiepiece having a pair of parallel longitudinal slots forming a cinch bar therbetween and crosswise of said band, said slots having a length slightly greater than the width of said band and a width'slightly greater than the thicle mess of said band, s'a'id band extending through the slots and around the'cineh bar for one of said handles forming a loop around the cinch bar of that handle and thence through'thejslot's and around the cinch bar of the other ofsaid handles forming a loop around said other cinch bar,1wh'ereby both'of'said handles are adjustably secured to said band so that'saidhandles maybe adjusted to any desired positionalong 's'aid hand, one by a loop cinched by the tie-piece of one of "said handles and the other by 'a loop enrolled by the tie-piece of the other of said handles.

Refern'ces Cit'e'd in the file of this patent UNliED STATES PATENTS Seaman May 15, 1956 

